


Coming Home, Finding Home

by DraceDomino



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Lesbian Character, Canon Lesbian Relationship, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Romance, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 20:43:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18924658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DraceDomino/pseuds/DraceDomino
Summary: She has nowhere else to go. After the horrors that Handsome Jack authored - with Athena's help - the gladiator finds herself aimless. Is there anywhere a soldier like her can call home after everything that's happened? Will anyone be able to love her again?Aimless and broken, Athena finds herself on the doorstep of someone that seemed to like her. The only light she's had in the darkness for far too long.





	Coming Home, Finding Home

Coming Home, Finding Home  
-by Drace Domino

Athena stood silent in the Concordia alley, simply staring at the building in front of her. “Springs’ Emporium of Stuff” in glowing letters on the marquee, along with the appropriate and accurate byline “Scrap with a smile!” In the middle of the sign there was a picture of the girl in question, looking every bit as innocent and charming as she was in real life. As the bounty hunter’s eyes focused on the smiling face of the scrap dealer, the butterflies in her stomach only seemed to intensify - nearly to the point that she spun on a heel and made her way right out of the city again.

The only thing heavier than loot in this part of space was guilt, and the blue-haired warrior was carrying plenty of it. Beyond the flimsy metal garage door of Janey’s business was the closest thing Athena might ever get to a life approaching normal, but it was hard to justify to herself that she deserved it. After the things she did, the blood on her hands...sometimes, it was hard to imagine that she deserved anything but to join the psychos and bandits on Pandora’s surface. After all, wasn’t that where all the dangerous lunatics went?

Somehow, Athena managed to push past her self-hatred as she began to slowly march forward. All she could afford herself as she drew near Janey’s shop was a look at her reflection in a nearby window, and through the dirt and the dust she could tell that this was as good as it got. The slender body of a former soldier, toned with muscle and built for destruction. Her hood was pulled up to frame her features and give her some semblance of formality, but otherwise she looked as if she just crawled away from a battle. The only change she could spot that needed to be made was the removal of her Kinetic Aspis shield from her forearm, which she silently tucked against its notch on her back.

Disarmed. That was courtship-appropriate, right?

Without another thought for fear of talking herself out of it, Athena finally closed the rest of the distance and brought her fist against the front door. This late in the evening she was sure she’d be waking Janey up, but what was yet another mistake? After several moments of hearing nothing from the other side of the door, Athena pounded her knuckles against the entrance again. And again. Each time it felt harder to do, and each time every reason she shouldn’t be there flooded into her mind with more and more power. By the fifth round of knocking she was practically denting the flimsy garage door metal, and she fought tears that screamed at the corners of her eyes. Every reason she shouldn’t be there was a reason she needed to be, catching the gladiator in a constant loop of anger, guilt, sorrow, and the growing, intense fear that the decisions she had made in the past month would be the ones that would chase her forever.

There’d be no normalcy for the woman that helped Handsome Jack rise to power. No peace for the soldier that helped kill thousands - maybe millions of Claptraps. No hope for warmth in the depths of space for a sister killer. After all, that was what she was! A murderer, hundreds of times over, and it was no fucking surprise the door wasn’t opening! Why would she open it for a monster? A sociopath? A psycho?!

The thoughts continued rolling through Athena’s head as she continued to knock, hitting an apex where her knuckles drove so hard against the metal that the entire door shook with every beat. After hitting that ferocious peak they started to soften once more, and it matched the moment that Athena’s tears could no longer be held back. The gladiator’s knees buckled and she dropped to them as the weight of her sins proved too much to bear, palm pressed flat against Janey’s door as the knocking finally stopped. Everything ached. From arms that had held the Aspis against too many blows, feet that had marched too many miles across Elpis, and a heart that was rapid realizing...for her, there was nothing else but battle.

As Athena’s head dipped forward to rest against Janey’s door, her hands finally went limp at her sides. There was nothing else for her now but to collect her courage, stand, and leave. Maybe...maybe Pandora wouldn’t be so bad this time around? The young woman was prepared to press her palms to the ground and slowly rise, dejected and broken, when she finally heard a voice from behind her. Sweet, soft, and with an unmistakable accent that Athena had been hearing every time she closed her eyes.

“Athena…?” Janey’s voice came from a few steps behind, and the scrap dealer approached with cautious, unsure steps. “Is...issat you?”

Athena slowly turned, moving on her knees to see the woman before her. Janey was standing in all her glory - from the sexy belly scar to the mop of blonde hair, to the kind features that had been the sole bright spot over the past long month. She was carrying a Vladolf assault rifle which dropped to the floor as soon as she saw Athena’s tear-streaked face, and the two women remained in their places simply staring at each other. Athena, with red eyes and a defeated look that expressed the depths of her failures...and Janey, who gazed ahead with blushing cheeks, wide eyes, and lips that were slowly turning into a smile.

Athena squandered her chance to reply as the pair stared at each other, for soon the opportunity was completely stolen from her. Janey hopped over the discarded weapon as she raced the last few steps towards her shop, sliding down to her knees in the last stage of her sprint. With arms outstretched she collided against Athena like a charging skag, and allowed the momentum to slam Athena’s back against the door as she embraced her at full ramming speed.

Janey Springs held nothing back. Where Athena had stumbled to the shop that night still struggling with her demons, the sweet scrap dealer didn’t hesitate to make her intentions clear in as crystal clear a fashion possible. With her scarred and slender body trapping Athena to the door, Janey didn’t hesitate to push her head forward and launch her lips against the other woman’s, inviting herself into a ferocious, mad kiss that had been building up since the two had first met. Her arms gripped Athena as hard as they could manage, she spread her thighs to straddle the soldier’s lap, and with every ounce of passion in her body made sure that the gladiator knew exactly how she felt.

No more playful flirting. No more teasing comments. Absolutely no more regret over not making things more clear. Janey’s mission that night was to drive home how much she wanted the blue-haired Vault Hunter that stumbled into her life that month, and she wasn’t anything approaching shy in doing it. Her tongue wrangled Athena’s own even while it struggled to find what to do, her knees closed about her lap to ensure she was even further trapped underneath her, and she didn’t pull her head back up until she could feel tears nipping at her eyes. By the time Janey pulled back up she could see them marking Athena’s cheeks as well - though if they were from the soldier naturally or her own fallen drops she couldn’t struggle to care.

“...wow.” Athena blurted out, wide-eyed and still a bit stunned. With her lips still tingling, all of those worries and concerns and fears seemed far removed by now. It was hard to even remember why she was upset in the first place. All that sprung to mind in that moment was a simple comment she couldn’t stop herself from confessing, even though the admission was enough to let a blush sweep quickly over her cheeks. “That...was the first kiss of my entire life.” A pause, and she pressed her lips together, rubbed them back and forth across one another, and gave a nervous swallow. “...pretty cool.”

Pretty really fucking cool, if she was being honest.

 

Athena could barely remember the grief that had passed through her over the past long day. The helplessness she felt in front of a closed door had been banished from her mind by Janey’s proximity, and the sudden kiss that had made her feel every bit the hero she used to see herself as. It was only a few more moments that the two women lingered outside of Janey’s shop before the scrap dealer had interlaced her fingers with Athena’s own, pulling her eagerly inside while insisting that she pull down her hood so she could enjoy the entire image. As soon as they walked through the front door, emotions overwhelmed the gladiator to the point of a cathartic urge, and Janey barely made two steps deeper into her shop before Athena silently grabbed her by the wrist, yanked her forward, and gave her an embrace with every last ounce of her strength.

“O-oof...hey now...I like you too, a whole lot…” The sweet blonde whispered, just as her arms found their way around Athena’s figure as well. With that mess of blue hair just underneath her chin, Janey could feel the ache within the other woman. The traumas she had endured, the horrors she had helped come to pass, and the relief she felt being someplace where she wouldn’t be asked to kill. Springs was as nice as they got near Pandora’s orbit - the biggest, brightest ray of sunshine around - but she wasn’t anywhere near naive, and Handsome Jack had already been making waves.

Things on Elpis and Pandora were going to get a hell of a lot worse before they got better...but at least Athena had found her way back.

“I...I don’t know what all the things you said to me over the past few month meant.” Athena finally murmured, lifting her head and gazing with weak, weary eyes to the other woman. Even now she found her hands exploring Janey’s body in chaste and tender fashion - fingers passed down her scarred belly in a way that appreciated her resolve. The emotions that rolled to the surface within Athena were raw and untested, completely new to a woman that had known only combat and hardship, and yet she was long past the point of attempting to control them. “I just know that...that every time you said them, I didn’t know how to respond, and they made me scared, warm, happy, and...and I just don’t know what else to do with myself now, and...and…” As she fought back another surge of tears, her voice choked and quaked with worry. “...and Janey, I’ve just...that madman is in power because of me, and I don’t...don’t deserve any part of this, but--”

“Hey, hey, hey.” The tender words came as Janey slid her hands up her friend’s arms, slowly over her shoulders, and finally to press against her cheeks. With her thumbs tracing just underneath Athena’s eyes, she caught any possible threat of tears before leaning forward to press a fond, affectionate kiss on the other woman’s brow. Her eyes closed and she held the touch there for some time, waiting until she could feel Athena release her tension before her. Only once the woman left some of her worrisome walls down did Janey pull away again, and treat her to a fond smile that sung of her warmth. “Pandora’s never been that cut and dry, you know? Bad an’ good tend to rumble around in the muck all the time. Just...you’re here now. That’s all I care about.” After a soft pause, she quirked a brow and nudged the other woman with her hips. “I guess all that fine charm of mine paid off! I’m the girl to go to for broken ships and broken hearts, wouldn’t ya say?”

The laugh that left the other woman was genuine and sweet, likely the first she had unleashed for quite some time. Athena was still nearly-sniffling by the time Janey took both of the woman’s hands in her own, leading her deeper into the shop and towards her living quarters. Athena didn’t say much while they walked, though from the lift of her eyes it was clear she was paying attention - Janey was kind enough to not turn her away, and she was naturally invested in staying in this sweet woman’s presence as long as she possibly could.

“C’mon now, let’s get you cleaned up.” Janey beamed, tugging her dear friend along. “We gotta get you nice and clean if we’re gonna show ya all the other things you can do with a proper lady for the first time!”

The gladiator’s cheeks wore a tremendous blush, yet she stumbled behind the blonde with a rapidly growing smile on her face. Maybe...things would be all right for her after all. Perhaps she hadn’t exhausted every last bit of good will Pandora could offer her yet.

***  
It was hours until Athena could really think straight again. Everything from the point that Janey had led her into the shower had been a bit of a blur - a rush of affection, emotion, and sensual delight that she had ignored for far too many years, and only now was allowed to embrace as any other woman would have. Her second, third, fourth, and fifth kisses all took place within the shower as the two women tended to one another in chaste and delicate fashion - scrubbing soap and water across each other’s exposed figure, getting a feel for just what each of them were bringing to the table. More than a few times she had caught Janey admiring the muscles and the tiny scars that dotted Athena’s figure, and the gladiator herself had taken great delight in running her hands across Janey’s chest all the way to her back - not to mention pulling her in close and feeling every inch of her body pressed up to another woman’s.

Everything was new, everything was fresh, and Janey was a patient teacher that was happy to show her it all. The shower ended with little more than a bit of kissing and sweet caresses amidst sudsy water, but clothes wouldn’t be touching either of them until far into the next morning. While they were still soaked the two slipped into Janey’s bed at the scrap dealer’s bidding, and from there...from there, Athena discovered things she had never even imagined before.

For years, she had avoided it all. Her Kinetic Aspis had been the closest thing to a companion, and now she could enjoy the feel of someone’s chest under her head for a pillow instead of that cold, unforgiving metal. In the long session of lovemaking that followed after the shower, Janey had made it a singular goal to show Athena all the joys she could offer. Kisses, caresses, grinding, teasing...from the most intense and passionate service with her mouth to the simple joy of feeling someone’s foot caress down her calf. She had spared nothing for her returning gladiator, and had done all she could to make her store of scrap and salvage a place she would want to call home.

And hours upon hours later, with their bodies still warm, the scent of their joy still in the air, and sweat still clinging to their curves, Athena held Janey tight against her as she slept. The sweet blonde woman was out like a light after a long night of service and worship of the warrior’s body, and in that peace Athena was afforded the chance to process it all. She spent time allowing her fingers to sweep across those soft blonde locks, allowed her touch to trace across the woman’s - admittedly very sexy - belly scar, and even dared to draw in long, deep breaths of Janey’s hair. It was a scent she wouldn’t soon forget, not after a day where she had learned so many things and forgiven herself for so many sins.

“...I won’t disappoint you.” Athena whispered, sweetly and softly for fear of waking her new lover up. Doubtless, there would be challenges ahead of them. A scrap dealer and a Vault Hunter...two of the most dangerous jobs anyone circling Pandora could have, and that was before one even considered how Athena’s stern and private personality could clash with Janey’s own in the sober light of day. But for now, too much rolling through her told her that this was exactly what she needed...and Athena would do anything to protect it. The blue-haired warrior’s arms closed about Janey’s body all the tighter, and the scarred scrap dealer murmured contently as her face was buried to a modest, firm bust. Legs intertwined, breath was passed across trembling flesh, and Athena allowed a pure and loving smile to sweetly cross her lips. After another tiny kiss to the scrap dealer’s forehead, she closed her eyes and offered one final whisper before letting herself drift to sleep. “You’re all the matters to me now...for whatever that is worth.”

For Janey - who had absolutely only been pretending to sleep because that was what adorable couples do - it meant all of Elpis, Pandora, and every planet in the galaxy.

***

“Daaaaaaaaamn, girl, I didn’t need to know that whole flowers and romance story!” Tiny Tina leaned back in her chair, and whistled sharply. She and Brick were still in the midst of their interrogation of the captured gladiator, and that had been an unexpected twist. “All I asked was if you tapped that!”

“Yeah!” Brick chimed in, slamming his fists together and giving a grunt and nod. “All Little T wanted to know was if you tapped that!”

“Uh…” Athena tilted her head and scrunched up her nose, looking...perplexed. “Yes…?”

“Good girl. You da best.” Tina made a pair of finger guns, rapidly firing upon the gladiator. “Mah girl Athena makin’ ladies pop pop poppa pop them pantiiiieeees!”

The End.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Much cleaner and fluffier than my usual work for sure!


End file.
